Dealer's Choice

Dealer's Choice is an American game show that aired from January 21, 1974, to December 12, 1975, in syndication for a total of 210 episodes, built around various casino-type games. Bob Hastings was the host for the first few weeks; afterwards, Jack Clark, who was better known at the time as an announcer for other game shows, took over as the host. Hastings and Clark, who wore tuxedoes as hosts of Dealer's Choice, were assisted by hostess Jane Nelson and by announcer Jim Thompson. The show was taped at the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas, but later moved to Los Angeles after its first season. Local stations normally aired the program in daytime slots which the networks did not feed; relatively few aired the show during the coveted Prime Time Access early evening slots before network prime time programming. As such, Dealer's Choice was not among the most popular off-network games of its time due to comparatively low audiences, but managed to survive over parts of three seasons nonetheless. The very next Monday after the show was removed from circulation, Clark moved over to a new game, The Cross-Wits, also a syndicated entry.